Golden Treasures: A Link Broken
by Way of the Void
Summary: After saving all of the legendary kingdom of Hyrule, Link has rested his mind and body with no word from his liege, who has spent a year plying the political aftermath of A Link to the Past. When the dust settles and Princess Zelda finally calls on her most battle-tested ally, it is to aid her against a continued calamity that threatens the foundations of the Golden Age of Hyrule.
1. A Summons Off Key

Golden Treasures:

Book 1: A Link Broken

 _In Japan there is a traditional practice called kintsukuroi, by which broken ceramic vessels are repaired using a gold lacquer; instead of seeking to remove the blemishes, they are highlighted, to return the vessel to function in a way that allows the history of the damage to strengthen the vessel's beauty._

 _Thus, that which is broken within us can be made resplendent and whole._

Chapter 1:

A Summons Off Key

 _"Help me... Please, help me... I am a prisoner in the dungeon of the castle."_

The youth stirred, a grimace crossing his face as he turned in his bed. It came like a raven's cry, shattering windows in his head.

 _"My name is Zelda."_

He woke with a gasp, jolting upright, his blond hair slick to the sides of his head. The name had pierced the warm fog of sleep with the same ghostly voice it had upon a stormy night a year prior. The youth muttered the name under his breath as he rose to sitting, then stood, passing a hand through his sandy mane as he strode to his window. The barest brushes of dawn tinted the long horizon, casting soft, weary light across his torso. The light touched lines on him that he found foreign, and an ache welled in his chest. He hugged himself, trying to despell the pain, but it gnawed him still, till he flopped wearily back on his mattress.

One year ago, that voice had shattered his slumber. All the nights since that desperate time, it had stolen him from sleep just the same.

* * *

The sun slowly rose over Hyrule, casting the long shadow of the Eastern Palace across the land. Slowly, fingers of light gently caressed the lines of Din's earth, the life-giving rays stroking each feature, from the tallest peaks of Death Mountain down to the shimmering waters of Lake Hylia, flitting across every building until the stained glass of the Royal Sanctuary sprayed colors across the pews and the white marble of Hyrule Castle practically gleamed.

The rays settled on a windowsill, creeping in and across the floorboards. They stretched up onto the bed, warming sheets, skin, and a splash of hair the color of a wheat field. The boy tried to hide, but before he could turn the sun kissed his eyelids, gently tugging him out of the warm embrace of slumber as he opened two deep sapphire eyes.

The covers fell from his body as he sat up, rubbing his bleary eyes. Everything ached in a way it had not before his adventure. It was late into the winter, when the awakening of spring had already begun to stir; a year and change since he had completed his heroic journey to save the Kingdom of Hyrule.

Link saw the sunlight splash across his torso, lighting a tapestry that was as alien in look as it was in feel. Yes, there was his fitness, which had never been better. He'd never been a particularly imposing boy and he still wasn't, at least without his shield, sword, and mail, but his adventure had certainly filled him out. His lean frame was taut with dense muscle.

Then there were the scars. Cuts, stabs, bites, burns of all sorts. At first, they seemed almost cosmetic, like jewelry and tattoos, but as his journey ground on and on, the trials growing more and more dangerous, they became like some sort of rot in his eyes. His wounds had consumed him, warping and wracking him until nothing felt right anymore. Even his face had been mared somewhat. A line upon his left cheek, a small burn under his jaw, and another gash across his brow to his right cheekbone, but otherwise intact.

But not all of the harm Link had been dealt was physical. He'd spent the entire year recovering, for the ordeal seemed to have steeped his heart in weariness. Before, he'd worked with his uncle as a hunter, bagging game to sell in town and at the castle. When he'd finally come home to his uncle, who had been resurrected by the magic of the Triforce, he spent weeks indoors, sleeping, eating, reading, and playing music. As his strength returned, he would run errands and do odd jobs in Kakariko village, and hike across the length and breadth of Hyrule. Uncle Alfon's days as a hunter were also done, as Link's fame drew people from across the land to train under the man who'd trained the hero of the kingdom; at first they came to Link, but he had always firmly refused. Alfon, who had learned from his own father, was overjoyed at the development, and his school of fencing, wrestling, boxing, and archery had flourished in the year since, with the boy attending classes semi-regularly. Link's uncle now lived in an apartment above the school he'd built in town, leaving the old family home to his nephew.

Leaving his bed clad in his pajama bottoms, he stared out the window for a moment more, smiling witsfully. Depressed, slightly. Self-conscious and sore, yes. But there was plenty he had to be thankful for; that fact had never escaped him. He washed and dressed, donning a pair of tan cloth pants and a warm, long-sleeved green shirt, leather boots and his uncle's old sword. After a glass of milk and some toast and jam, he set out. His hair had grown long on the road, and when Link regained access to regular bathing, he found he prefered it that way. That he used his bangs to help hide his scars, nobody had yet seemed to notice; the rest was tied behind his head in a single tail that hung between his shoulder blades.

"Hello, Link!" called the mailman, who was a short way down the road. The hero waved back as he opened his mailbox, finding a letter within. A year ago, he would have been totally swamped in mail; letters and gifts of thanks from across the kingdom. Eventually it died off, but the odd letter or parcel still showed up at his door from time to time. Link wasn't sure what to make of it; he'd amassed a moderate fortune between the gifts and his adventures, and wouldn't need to work another day in his life.

Link frowned hard. There on the parcel in his hands, in red wax, was the crest of the royal family, the heavenly bird bearing the three golden triangles. Link had not heard from his liege since the end of his quest. Tearing the envelope, Link read.

"To Link, of the Castle Woods.

You are summoned by her majesty Zelda, Princess and ruler of Hyrule. On receiving this letter, appear before the throne at once."

It was brutally curt. Link mused that if the letter was written by the princess, then he'd misjudged her esteem of him. No matter. She could wait till he was finished in town for the day, if she hadn't the time for simple manners. A popular country sentiment, and with it in mind Link drew his cloak about him and set out for town. He needed groceries and toiletries, sundries and hardware. Cheese, potatoes, soap, nuts, nails. And he would get lunch at the tavern. Malna and Talna's hot mulled wine had practically carried him through the cold seasons, and he'd taste the seasonal treat again before spring set in fully.

The road was quiet this time of year. Birds and beasts were all still sluggish, but at the end of the path, a gaggle of the village children played. "Link!" they howled when they saw the boy hero, charging him as one brigade. With a laugh, Link waded into them, keeping his base solid as he tossed the boys harmlessly into the snow. One by one they flew, and Link continued on into town as they picked themselves up out of the powder. Tala, their girl minder, shrugged sheepishly. She was a handful of years younger than Link, a timid, mousy girl, often run ragged by her younger charges. Link shook his head, smiling warm apologies as she brushed them clean of slush and stick.

Once he made town, it was a string of hellos and good mornings. The baker, the butcher, the fisher and the fowler, farmer and shephard and seamstress. He got cheese and potatoes, soap, nuts and nails, as well as a smorgasbord of gossip and rumor. "The Princess is reforming the army," said the blacksmith. "New command structure, new division of duty. Everything. I guess the castle folk don't like what happened to all the soldiers during the coup."

"Here, Link," called old lady Julma. "Come here where I can see you proper. Ah, there we are. Come child, I need your hair for a moment." Link flushed, sitting for the old hairdresser as she tried her new craft. When the new braid failed, the woman scowled, and quickly did a conventional one. "Run along, princeling hero. And take care that no aging queen comes for your scalp."

"Have you seen the envoys of the desert tribes? The dark-skinned folk from the deep desert sands? Rolun says that Golun tried to sweettalk one of those desert women, and she floored him with an open hand, in one blow!"

It was a long and fulfilling morning before Link finally pulled into Malna and Talna's tavern, taking a moment to relish the difference in temperature between the chill beyond and standing at the coatrack. Once he was seated by the hearth, the winter's bite was all but forgotten. Then came Malna, an energetic, flirtatious young woman a few years Link's senior, red of hair and full of figure. "Link," she chimed. "What'll it be, handsome?"

"Am I too late for a full Hylian breakfast?" Link asked, blushing lightly, and Malna smiled.

"For you, I think we'll make whatever we're asked for," she said through a saucy grin. "And a cup of mulled wine, right? Sit tight hero."

Link sat with the hearth, tugging absently at Julma's braid. Malna came with the wine, and Link let the warmth of the drink chase away the ghosts of cold haunting his bones. Then his food came; bacon, sausages, ham, toast and jam, black and red pudding, grilled halved tomatoes, onions, and wide mushroom caps, eggs sunnyside up, baked beans, and hash browns. Link tucked in, savoring every bite of the varied plate. In a lesser land it would be a kingly meal, but the rich soils of Hyrule had yielded agriculture without peer for time immemorial; a blessing of plenty from the three golden goddesses. Foodstuffs were the kingdom's chief export, next to forged goods.

"What's running around that head?" Malna, suddenly swinging by and planting her palms on the table across from Link, asked in a low voice.

He had a meeting with an old friend that was long overdue.

* * *

Those same fingers of light that caressed Link to wakefulness stretched across the woods and waters, seeping into the great palace of Hyrule Castle. There in the royal quarters, they found soft silk and smooth skin. Eventually the tattoo the rays beat upon closed eyelids bid them open, so that ice-blue eyes gazed upon the world.

Zelda sat up, brushing her long, honey blonde hair from her face. It spilled about her shoulders and down the length of her silk negligee. She knew in the back of her sleep-addled mind that her aide would soon be around to wake her. Normally, she loathed how she would awaken just before she was due to be roused, but this time her visions had given the morning a new flavor. Today, she would see him again. Him. Link. Her savior, rescuer, protector. This past year had been full of civil toil and political fallouts. The princess had little room in her life for personal whims, but there was one she had nursed throughout the year. The magical Triforce that fueled her visions had never lied; the princess and the hero were destined for each other. Her personal interest lay in defending that destined future, even though she couldn't see how it would develop. Not fully. Her visions did not come freely.

Zelda hugged her legs harder, her toes curling as she recalled the visions, butterflies fluttering within her core. In the dreams, his strength supported her, his vigilant blue eyes fixing her's motionless as he poured his silent, tender intensity through her lips. She craved him, in a way she couldn't have concieved when she felt the first faint slivers of his existence; she had been just a little girl when she'd first viewed of the skeins of his mind.

It had frightened her at first. Link was a rough forest boy, a woodsman raised by another woodsman; wild, uncultured, and unihibited. By the time she had finally revealed herself to him, pleading for his aid, her connection to him was irreplaceable. His being was unlike any she had felt in her lifetime; honest, humble, and pure, so unlike the guarded and pretentious minds of the royal courts and diplomats. She would reach for his presence when she was stressed, and secretly wondered if he felt her mind's touch at all, let alone as the loving, longing caress she intended it to be.

Her door cracked open. "Your highness? It is time to awaken," called Impei, her new but ever-faithful man-servant.

"I'm up," she called back. "Bathing. I'll be out in a moment."

Zelda languished for a moment more, her eyes bleary as they studied the lay of the fabric of her pillow. Then she drew her lithe frame from the sheets and stood and made for her bath, the sole indulgence of her morning routine. There she watched the bubbles pop for a short while. She hurried from tub to towel, her teeth chattering till she dried herself. 30 minutes from her wakeup call, the Princess of Hyrule emerged, resplendent in the white and gold of the sacred royal gown.

There stood Impei. He was a fierce figure, dressed in the dark cloth and grey steel of his secretive people. He wore greaves about his legs and gauntlets upon his arms, which were otherwise bare to the shoulder; how he could ignore the cold, Zelda could never figure, as he only added layers in the deepest stretch of winter and on trips to the most inhospitable snowy climes. A gracefully curved shortsword hung at the small of his back, and a red scarf was coiled round his neck. Zelda had learned in the past months that the scarf, woven of a slash-resistant fiber, could be nearly as dangerous as the blade, and that Impei carried many minor weapons hidden about his person. He dropped to a knee at the sight of his charge, till she bid him to rise.

"I believe we've discussed many times that the kneeling is a little excessive," the princess said half as a jest. If the humor reached Impei, it didn't show.

"I am bound to your will by the traditions of my people," the shadowy warrior responded. "We still held to our ancient oaths, even after your ancestors cast us out for our... Failures. We waited, preparing for the day you would find need of our debt again."

The princess stifled a titter. "So you've told me", she responded, amused by Impei's somber candor. "And I've told you just as many times. For a citizen of Hyrule to bow to the throne implies that citizen lives for the royal family, rather than the other way around. It's a form of political protest, a display of no confidence; I didn't know you had such distain for me, Impei."

This elicited a small smirk from the bodyguard. "Where I was raised, to slight the honor of your master is punished with pain, and that's if you are lucky and your insult is minor. But it is good that I am no Hylian. As a Sheikah I can serve your will, if your subjects will not."

Zelda made an amused sigh. "Ah, but it's not about will. The Royal Family's way is to rule out of love, and with the grace of the godesses. The Hyrulean Civil War was the last time..." Zelda's speech cut short for a pause. "...Well, it was supposed to be the last time Hylian steel drew Hylian blood. The last time Hylians were ruled over without their blessing. This splendor is a lifestyle granted willingly by the nobility and localities as payment for fair, competent rule."

"Then you are indeed their ruler."

Zelda nodded once. "For as long as my people and court have faith in my leadership. You and I spared no effort in securing that, have we not? In the months since my father abdicated the throne?"

The late king's health was troubled even before Aghanim had appeared to end Hyrule's woes. The king defeating his sickness had been one of the miracles the wicked warlock had woven as he plotted his coup. Even though the magic of the Golden Power had returned him to life, that life was already stretched thin; he had no vigor left, at least not enough to guide Hyrule through the fallout of the coup. When he finally passed, the nobility immediately called young Zelda's maturity into question. The kingdom was in disarray; the morale of the castle guard had been completely extinguished, monsters mundane roamed free, and the talk from the mountain folk was that new terrors held roost in the deep hollows beneath the earthen bones of Death Mountain and it's range. So in some respects it was understandable, but in no way was it tolerable.

Before the crisis, Zelda had been a girl; a highly educated and precociously intelligent child with savantlike mystical abilities, but a girl in mentality. A year in the captivity of Aganim and his puppetmaster had tempered childish precociousness into a focused and formidable intellect, insightful, perceptive, intuitive and wise.

They had called her a girl; laughed in her face when she appealed the nobility's judgement of her character. In response, she had wielded the history and attributes of her lineage, sought out the fabled Sheikah, found Impei, and together they mustered what few men of the guard who still had fight left in them to clear the lands of Hyrule of the teaming masses of monsters, forcing the Blinish tribes back into their cave homes in the foothills of Hyrule's mountainous borders. They doubted her, and she forced them to accede to her competence by quashing their fears in a single stroke, returning with her womanhood undisputed and as a warrior princess to boot.

But now there was yet more work to be done. The grim news from the northern mountains could not be ignored, but to venture so deep into those lands and assess the situation was dangerous travel. And those few who could be trusted where far too few and of ill experience for such a sojourn. So the princess had sent word to her most trusted and skillful vassal. And as one veteran guardsmen in armor of plain Hylian steel entered to announce, he had finally arrived.


	2. Reignition

**AN:** Hello there ladies and germs, and thank you all for reading. The reception from the LoZ community here has been tremendous and heartening, makes a humble writer overjoyed to ply the craft. Golden Treasures is a small fragment of a chapter I've stewed over for years until I felt I had enough direction to give it to y'all. ALttP is probably the nearest Zelda game to my heart, and it represents an underexplored era of Zelda that has little background info thanks to the limitations of the games that tell it's story. But I feel that this vagueness offers an element of epic scale, and I seek to convey that in Golden Treasures; a true telling of the full glory of the land of Hyrule that we all love. Thanks again for the support, and I hope you enjoy the ride!

Chapter Two:

Reignition

Link followed closely, as a guardsmen bearing the horned helm of the elite of his comrades picked a path through the castle halls, into the throne room. It was the first time since before the crisis that Link had joined amicable company with a royal palace guard. Kalom was a stout man of medium stature, more than a few inches taller than Link amd more thickly built.

"Here, you may enter now," he said to Link. "Don't take this the wrong way, what's left of the Hylian Guard has nothing but respect for you. But there are rules that need to be followed. Make no moves to your blade in the Princess' presence, refer to her as Your Majesty, and refrain from crude speech."

Kalom stuck to the doorway as Link stepped forward. "Your Majesty," the hero said with a mild dip of his head. She smiled, her face as winsome and comely as he remembered, if not more. But the splendor of her garb made the image more striking than he'd witnessed when she wore finely sewn but unassuming blue and white.

Here upon her throne she looked every ounce her station. Sitting with a proper and graceful bearing, a gleaming crown upon her head, regal and conservative yet flattering white cloth descending down her frame from the richly adorned shoulders of sacred gold, her well-kept tresses of rivaling luster curled about her shoulder, held together by a jeweled hairpin that guided the liquid gold strands down the delicate nape of Princess Zelda's neck, she was offputting and distracting.

In short, Link thought her beautiful, in a way he had viewed in effect among the young men of Kakariko as a boy, but had never time to fully appreciate till now. He saw her smile and the gentle give in the lines around her sky blue eyes, and despite his previously cool emotions he found himself smiling meekly as well. "Thank you for coming, Link of the Castle Woods," she said in a voice that sounded both proper and sweet, an elderly scribe scribbling away as she did. "Thank you for your time."

She eyed left and right, to Impei, and then the scribe. "Leave us, please," she said, a confident and mischievous cant to her widening grin. Kalom started a touch, Impei hardly changed his face at all, but the scribe seemed at a loss for words.

"That's hardly proper procedure, this _is_ an official audience with the throne," he finally managed, and Zelda simply smiled on.

"Please," she said in a tone that managed to be both firm and flipant, as though she were asking for just a touch more sugar in her tea. Impei and Kalom had already moved to comply, and now the scribe had consigned himself to muttering defeat. They vacated the room, and as soon as it had emptied, Zelda stood, stepping down from her throne until she stood before him, just a few inches shy of him, her hands clasped calm behind her back and her neck tilted up just a touch to look him in the eyes.

"You look nice," she said with a quiet giggle, turning to her left and beckoning with one hand. "Very dashing. Come, we've much to discuss. I owe you explanations."

Zelda led Link on, out a door that opened up to a set of stairs down, and then a set of doors out to an outcropping overlooking the moat, filled with rare botanical specimens. It took Link a moment, but he eventually recognized it; the secret entryway he had taken into the castle all those seasons ago. Zelda stepped out onto the grass, kicking off her shoes to feel it between her toes. Link watched as she bent over a touch to take a whiff of one spectacular blue specemin climbing up a trellace, which Link recognized from his travels as a rare Akkalan Azure Rose, a early bloomer found in the cliffs and hillocks of the far northeastern coast. High lattice fences and vine tangled overhangs offered a considerable degree of privacy.

"Yeah," he finally managed to breathe, striding up beside her. Zelda turned her cheek into the breeze coming off the waters as they flowed past the castle from Lake Hylia, asking silently into Faore's winds for courage in a task that had her filled with fairies inside.

"I'm so sorry, Link," she muttered, hardly more than a whisper. Fluttering fingers reached out to clasp his weathered hand in a furtive embrace. Link turned to her, his heart up in his throat, and they gazed upon each other at an intimate range. Carefully Zelda reached up, picking locks of soft flaxen hair away from Link's features, as the hero stood paralyzed and stupefied. "I'm sorry you had to bear this burden for us all. I'm sorry I couldn't render more aid to you, sorry that I left you alone to mend yourself without a single word."

"Why _did_ you?" he asked her suddenly, unable to keep the hurt in the question from his voice. The look on Zelda's face was of deepened sympathy. Cautious fingers grasped tighter, and Link curled his fingers to join, stroking the smooth surfaces of her hand with flustered curiosity.

"Damned politics," Zelda spat towards her feet before catching him again with her entrancing eyes, surprising Link with her frankness. "Aganim was a duly appointed agent of the King, you were a commoner's child, and the kingdom had just faced its most trying upheaval in which he died by your hand; until the royal courts could decide with finality on the course of the kingdom, if you were considered suspect on even a totally formal basis, contacting you amicably could have severely weakened my credibility amongst the nobles. Do you see how I was bound on my course, Link? Seeing you suffer so with no path to help soothe your pain has caused me more grief than I can share with words."

Zelda saw in the deep blue of Link's eyes that he understood. "You see me."

Zelda nodded with a silent urgency. The liquid color of her eyes bored into Link, till he felt she could see straight through him. "Yes. At the times the Godesses deem it relevant. And I've heard the echoes of your presence since we were little. I know you, Link."

Zelda's face took a position of blissful certainty. "I heard you cry when you were first stung by a hornet, I heard you cheer when Alfon first made you a wooden sword, and I heard you swear in venom when he died. Here next to you, it's even more clear. I see the pain as it dances through you, and your skill, in the way you move even at resting, the little shifts in your bearing. I see how you approach even a serene place like this with an attitude of survivalist caution. And I see how you wear your hair and hold your head to try and hide your face. I hear a faint reverberation, the flavor of every feeling that passes through you."

Link had no words; even as she said so, he couldn't help himself from turning his head to place the curtain of sandy blond between those piercing eyes and the marks crossing his face. Immediately Zelda turned his chin with the tips of her fingers, till his ultramarine stare met Zelda's icy blue.

"Link, if you would serve your kingdom once more, I would have you as my knight. Would you live for the crown and throne, to serve me as I serve our people? If you do this for me, I swear to you that I will never let you struggle alone like this again."

Link searched her face; open, aluring, devoid of tension in her expectant survey of his own features, as he weighed the choice. "My sword is yours," he affirmed. Zelda smiled that smile that reached out and grasped his heart in a tender fist, and stepped back, extending her hand. Link drew his uncle's sword, turning it about in his hands to present it hilt first. He took a knee and Zelda hefted the blade in her well-manicured fingers.

"For the sake of our land and our people," Zelda declared, touching the flat of the blade to one shoulder, then the other, before turning the blade carefully to pass it back. "Rise, Link. First of a new order of Hylian Knights."

Link stood, exhilarated and relieved. "What is the wish of Your Highness?" Link said haltingly, and Zelda loosed ringing peals of laughter.

"You addlebrain," she teased with a gleam in her eyes. "You're nobility now, I'll see it happen, and I'll permit you call me Princess." There was an odd turn to her smile there, and she looked out as the sun began to shine heavy orange onto the waters of the moat. "Maybe even Zelda, in closed company."

Link nodded with enthusiasm. "Of course. Now how can I help?"

 _"How can I help? Godesses above, save me from this man, his charm and his bluntness."_ Zelda sighed as her thought trailed off, hugging herself as she gazed out to the tips of the mountains on the horizon. "Foul things lurk in the roots of Hyrule; my visions tell me they are spawned of Ganon's evil power. They persist without their master, somehow; we must take measures to assess this situation as soon as possible, lest an invasion sweep across this land while it lies in confusion. And I need you to help me build and lead the army that will do it."

That struck Link through the whirlwind of vulnerable and raw emotions. "I'm no general," he stated. "I don't know anything about leading men and women."

"You understand battle," Zelda insisted. "I've had a taste of strategy, I can help you along. But the Guard needs you. You ran them in circles at the height of their capabilities. Singlehandedly. Those who remain are formidable warriors but they never had any concept of rangership; the Castle Guard had not campaigned across the width of the world for centuries before Aghanim turned them. They desperately need your knowledge to have any hope of providing real security to the whole f the kingdom."

Link ran a hand through his hair, gazing off towards the setting sun. Zelda came up next to him, pulling one empty hand into her grip. She turned his hand over, knuckles up, and traced the nicks and scratches, the narrow taper of his wrist and the tough skin at his knuckles, drawn across the hardened bones of his fists. He was more than a couple shades darker than her, of rural stock who'd spent many generations out in the light of day.

"But above all that, you have the adoration of our people," Zelda assured her new retainer. "They would trust you to bring them the sort of safety that rulers have failed to provide them. And you will have my full support. Every step of the way, I won't let the vultures that you'll find hanging about this place abuse your upbringing while you adapt."

"You mean for me to live at the castle," Link realized. The magnitude of the task struck him fully, and he chuckled quietly at the prospect of the precise opposite of his well-earned peace. His expression was a gleaming grin that struck Zelda as oddly familiar. Then she saw it where she'd first seen it; upon his face as he hacked her a path through the sewers beneath the castle. "A hunter's child among nobility. Forget me, how will bringing me into this world effect _your_ position?"

Zelda took a high browed expression, waving dismissively before casting that same churlish grin. "As long as we succeed, those old windbags won't have a breeze to pass between them. I'm trying to build a golden age here, paving over the laziness and complacency of the old generation is precisely the business we've selected. Pursuing a vision of what Hyrule could be, not what it has been with the grace of the godesses for a thousand generations, harumph harumph!"

Zelda's tone became more sardonic word for word towards the end, and they both indulged in a moment of laughter. "I'll try it," Link promised. "But I can't tell you how it's going to go."

The princess remained defiantly amused. "Just leave that to me, sir knight," she said, moving for the door back into the castle. Link took just a moment to marvel at how the space had changed in a single year before following his liegelady in. "I'll send a carriage to gather your things from your home. Does it have a lock?"

"Ah, no," Link responded.

"Then we'll have to send the locksmith as well, wouldn't do to have all of Hyrule in your kitchen while you're gone. And of course we'll need to have a royal proclamation, probably here at the castle as well as in Kakariko, what with the settlement increasing close to the moat. Almost a small town by now. You'll need to be there for that. And of course there's the matter of getting you set up with the Castle Guard."

"...Right." Link had thought he'd figured how intensive this would be, but the way Zelda began to rattle off thing that needed doing began to convince him otherwise.

* * *

Link flopped onto the bed with a sigh of relief. What little remained of the day had been spent with tailors and cobblers who poked and prodded him incessantly. His garb was insufficient for courtly appearances, he would need new clothes of all kinds, new shoes and boots, belts, even a new scabbard for his sword. They'd wanted to cut his hair, which he adamantly refused. If it made him look like a bumpkin, so be it.

The lantern flickered light across the ceiling. A gentle breeze slipped through the window and Link exhaled. At the meeting of these sounds, the fragrance of fresh flowers touched his nostrils, and a breath to match passed by his ear. He stood up sharp, suddenly attuned to his surroundings. Bed. Nightstand, closet, dresser. Chair, a door into a washroom. Empty space. But then he felt the shift in the wind pass behind him, with no source.

Perturbed, he turned, eyes tracing the stars through his window. Feeling the ache of the day's exertion acutely now, he slowly shed clothing, till the wind passed over his bare skin, like curious fingers questioning each mark. He heard the breath again, a low sound of contentment that trailed on in his ear as he reached for the lantern. He gathered his breath, blew out the light, and all at once he felt the presence. Two flashes of clear blue, staring into him from nowhere as he eased under the unfamiliar bedding.

 _"Sleep..."_ came the whisper. The sourceless stare unwavering, Link set his head upon the pillow. But he couldn't yet heed that call. Unfamiliar shadows danced around the room, stirring a more animal survival instinct that Link knew well and savored little. Loathed, even. The whisper came again, soothing and assuring; _"Sleep, Link..."_

His alarm withered under the bewitching half-seen gaze. Link's eyelids drooped, the tension leaving his body as he felt how much softer his new bed was. The eyes staring into his being grew nearer and nearer, till he heard the breath pass his ear again. The unseen presence kissed his mind, and then the clear blue eyes went out, and Link slid off into sleep with them.

* * *

Zelda came back to herself, reluctantly releasing the focus on the connection between Link's mind and hers. She stood for a moment in her nightwear, and found herself shaking in distress. The young ruler stumbled to the window, gasping as though she'd just came from a skirmish, her body and mind exhausted from taxing battle magic. As Link's anxiety washed through her Zelda scanned the castle walls, trying to ground herself through a feeling that she had rarely experienced, even amid the Blinish clashes in months past. When she finally felt safe enough she opened the window, gazing out at the stars.

"Lady Zelda, are you unwell?" The voice shocked her into startle, even though it was immediately familiar.

"Ahh! Goddesses, Impei!" Zelda cried with a jump, searching left. Her Sheikah bodyguard cocked his head in silent inquisition, something Zelda handily picked up on even in her adrenalized state, explaining; "I... Link was trying to sleep but the unfamiliar surroundings were keeping him feeling defensive. So I took his anxiety into my mind. I just didn't suspect the extent of his distress, he seemed simply restless."

Impei stood in the window, which was swung out open, the movement silent as ever in Impei's way. He had climbed his way down when she opened it, somehow stealthy enough to evade Zelda's magically amplified awareness. How he did it where a common assassin of mundane skill would have failed, she still knew not. "Such is often the nature of warriors who face great and sudden calamity in previously peaceful lives. It is surely a habit of his trials, he cannot simply assure himself he is safe with the academic knowledge of it."

His voice was ironshod confidence. It suddenly occurred to Zelda that Impei likely had a better understanding of Link than she did, and it felt like a failing in the moment.

"I should have known," she sighed. "He offered himself for the kingdom, body, mind, and soul; it ripped him apart and we sent him home to lick his wounds without a single word. No aknowledgment, no thanks, no care. And I have the nerve to be surprised that his trauma has outstripped what I had assumed possible."

Impei frowned behind his scarf. "You can't blame yourself for the idiocy of politics, nor can you fault your upbringing no matter how much better you have had it. Neither are within your control," he insisted.

"Yes, I know," Zelda admitted. "I just... My heart aches anew now that I see the extent of my error. I saw him, Impei, in my mind's eye I saw every wound he withstood for us. I knew who he was before the crisis, but now that he is so near I can see how much he's changed. And as much as it hurts me to see it, there are more practical concerns as well."

Impei nodded. "His suitability to the pressure of the role he is taking," Impei confirmed.

"I've no doubt that he is the right man for this," Zelda said, not wanting Impei to question Link's abilities. "The question is simply how much more healing he needs from the battles he's already won us."

"Indeed," concurred Impei. "But that is a matter for the morning. Let me watch the night Princess, you should rest for your duties under the coming sun."

Zelda sighed, nodding in affirmation. She retired, and Impei closed her window and shifted out onto the sill. He climbed up, scaling the tower until his vision rose above all. He watched the night long, scanning through the moonlight and starlight for signs of a terrible enemy that all Hyrule might soon know as well as Link did.


	3. If You Desire Peace

AN: Hello there my fellow Zelda freaks, back at you again with another installment. Gotta say the continuing reception is fully heartening, you guys are really helping me churn these chapters out with you positive reviews; with the exception of one fully welcome jokester. Bit of a note about my process, I do post these in haste because I want y'all to get them ASAP, so my editing is a bit retroactive. If I've posted a chapter, its always a good idea to read back; if there were errors I may have fixed them, and there might just be added sections to maximize juciness. Either way, before I mark Golden Treasures Book 1 as complete, I'll do an in-depth edit to bring things to their final form. Which brings me to my last comment, I love the reviews but details are always appreciated; if you liked something specific, let me know! And likewise if you catch a typo or think a section could be better, I'm fully open to your comments. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3:

If You Desire Peace...

Link woke slowly, familiar sounds filling his ears. That helped take the edge off of his surprise at the unfamiliar surroundings, but only just so. He rolled over and onto his feet, eyes fuzzy in adjusting to the day. Link stumbled over to a table by the window, and then away from it after he fell into it's direct beam. Banging his knee against a bookcase, Link swore quietly, but then fell silent. Unfamiliar voices came from the hall, albeit muffled through the door. He still heard them through the chirup and chatter of Hyrule beyond his window.

"Master Link? Sir, are you awake?" It was a kindly voice that struggled to reach the volume required to be heard through the door.

"Y-yes," Link called back with a flustered stammer. Quickly the young hero slipped on A pair of his plain tan trousers and a light nightshirt, covering his battle damaged torso as he made for the door. "I'm decent."

"Good morning, young knight!" The voice gushed as the door swung open, allowing a middle-aged woman of stocky build and wearing a wide smile to enter. "I'm Celma, one of the castle stewards. I brought you this, you'll need to wear them today."

The household helper pressed a bundle into Link's hands. "Ah, thanks," Link said, still groggy as he wondered if someone had made the garments overnight. The prospect impressed Link in the nature of such a feat as much as it embarrassed him to inconvenience someone like that.

"Don't mention it my lord," Celma responded.

"Please," the knight interjected before the servant could continue. "Just Link is fine."

This made Celma smiled a wide grin, laughing quietly. "Such a sweet child, Alfon raised you well. It's good to learn the hero of Hyrule is a kind and well-mannered young man. Got enough selfish oafs that come through here already. Very well, Link it is. Feel free to draw yourself a bath and stop by the kitchen for a bite, just be sure to meet Lady Zelda in her study promptly."

Link beamed at the praise, before nodding enthusiastically. Celma ran off to some other task, and Link proceeded to the bath. It wasn't the bath itself that put Link off, Alfon's house had always had running water piped from the river near by, since before Link could remember. It was all the different sorts of soaps, lotions, and washes in a small shelf within that had Link a little lost, but it only took a little experimentation with his nose to manage that. Before long, Link was feeling as clean and fresh as he ever had. Going back to the pump handle at the house in the forest would never be the same.

He came out of the bath and found himself face to face with a bundle of strange clothing. Some articles simply wouldn't do, like the fancy dress shoes and pants. But the short undershirt was incredibly comfortable, the long, warm overshirt was a wonderful forest green and bore the heavenly bird clutching the triforce embroidered in crimson and gold thread on the left shoulder. The cloak was an equally vibrant red, held closed by a silver gorget around his throat, which bore an insignia Link recognized as important; framed between the wings of a heavenly bird on each side, the Triforce at the center, surrounded by the symbol of each golden goddess, and then a circle of six elemental runes surrounding that for woods, fire, water, sand, darkness, and light, jeweled modestly but in sparkling color, with the engravings and fittings plated gold.

 _"This is a symbol of my knighthood,"_ Link realized. He studied the symbol intently. He could only wonder what each stood for in this context as he fastened it about his shoulders, the gorget across his collar. Then he took the light shirt of chainmail, lighter than his red mail for certain, and donned it under his green shirt before belting on his sword. He looked himself over in the mirror, a composite of a woodsman's practicality, a noble's finery, and a warrior's readiness, and thought; _"If I don't look knightly enough to these aristocrats then that's fine. I'd rather look like a warrior-peasant than a warrior-fop to the other citizens."_

Link exited, locking his door behind him and pulling down the hall, trying to remember the castle's layout. Eventually he found his way up into the tower, passing through a packed library before finding himself within Zelda's study. A mournful and entrancing strain of music floated across the room from the window far from the stairs, as Princes Zelda gazed out while playing a small straight metal flute.

"Ah! There you are," Zelda exclaimed, setting the flute down. "My, don't you look handsome? A knightly ranger. I figured you'd take to some bits of that costume more than others."

"It's important to keep honest appearances," Link stated plainly.

"Indeed," Zelda afirmed with a chuckle. "But how about me? What do you think?"

Zelda wore a regal but sensible outfit of white and purple with a high-legged mobile skirt. Over this she wore a lightweight suit of gilded armor; gauntlets, brassart and pauldrons attached to a cuirass, leading down into faulds to guard her hips and down further to cuisse and greaves to guard the whole of her legs. Belted to her side was a short, double-edged cut and thrust sword with a basket hilt. Upon her brow was a simple gold circlet, unjeweled.

"You look ready to take on a Lynel," Link said, leaving Zelda grinning smugly.

"I'd better, because after were done in Kakariko Village it's battle drill with the Hylian Guard," she said. "They're eager to see what you can teach them. But save that for later, we should get going."

They exited, finding Impei waiting in the room below, munching on an apple. Also present was Kalom, wearing an embellished and gold trimmed version of his guard's armor, his barbute helmet with it's horns and y-shaped face opening tucked under his arm to reveal a confident and serious but genial visage with curly brown hair and round cheeks. Impei, cutting a much more svelte image than the warrior across from him, had a more stern expression.

"As we announced earlier this morning in Kakariko village and through the Castle Woods settlement, we're going to have a touch of a parade down into the village to announce a few things that should serve to help settle fears," the princess explained.

"A reformed Hylian military, one prepared to defend the kingdom close at hand as well as across Hyrule's wider face, from mountain to shore. Lead by a legendary hero as the first of a new order of Hylian Knights, alongside the Guard's most capable veteran at the head of our regular army, with both making ready to accept new recruits. To boot, they will be supported by an intelligence apparatus formed of renewed ties to the Sheikah, in the form of Impei and kinsmen he is currently in the business of finding and contacting. These three measures together will be supported by the the Throne's renewed interest in the wider Hyrule; new infrastructure, renewed contact with the kindly races of Hyrule, and peace with the monster tribes when possible. As well as a new outer castle wall, to defend the Castle Woods settlement and make room for refugees from Kakariko and further in event of an invasion or similar crisis."

The group was a quartet of quiet affirmations. Together they proceeded down to the courtyard. There assembled was the Hylian Guard. Just 90 men and women; Link counted and dismayed, it was barely a company. Zelda was dead right, they needed new blood desperately. It'd seemed during the crisis that the numbers of the Castle Guard were endless, and it made Link wonder how all the former guardsmen were faring.

But the closer Link looked at these warriors, resplendent in gold trimmed armor, the more his faith recovered. The looks in their eyes, the formation and the bearing of each one of these soldiers spoke of seasoned and bonded comrades. When the castle gates swung open, they marched behind Zelda, Link, and Impei with a resounding lockstep, Kalom at their head. The sun gleaned off their armor as they stepped out into the light of mid-morning, and a throng of people assembled further down the road waited eagerly, and began to crow and cheer as the procession approached.

Link was generally not a fan of huge crowds. But a realization came to him as the people began to close in. _"They need to see that their leaders and heroes are still here for them,"_ he mused. _"This is the whole point."_

The crowd broke across the face of the marching column, the inhabitants of the Castle Woods passing praise and good sentiment before gradually shifting alongside and then following the procession out as it made for Kakariko Village.

The march through the village was an exhilarating experience for Link. The expression from the folks by Hyrule Castle was heartfelt, but these people were ecstatic to the point that the local Kakariko Village constables had to form something of a barrier. Music was playing from practically every corner and food was being served communally at every other corner. Men and women danced in the streets, and children ran amok, confounding and evading their caretakers.

To Zelda the pomp and circumstance of these sorts of things had long ago lost it's novelty. But when she heard the echoes of Link's excitement, they sounded like a higher music than any playing down the village streets. The young sovereign couldn't help but grin wider than the tutors of her youth might have deemed ladylike

Eventually the procession came to an end at the top of the hill, right before Sahsrahla's house. Link frowned hard at that. The wizened elder had been on a vacation somewhere a long ways off. Practically half the village had told him not to, that he was too old to travel so much further than he'd done during the crisis. But he went anyways. And he told nobody where exactly he was going.

Link cast a glance to Zelda and sure enough, she had felt the shift in his emotions. She simply nodded short and subtle, before turning back to the crowd, her expression all regal confidence. Link tried to follow her lead, and put on a strong positive image.

A horn sounded to call for attention and silence, and sounded till silence came. Clearing her throat, Zelda began her oration; "Residents of Kakariko Village, the Castle Woods, and assembled citizens of Hyrule!"

* * *

As the Hylian Guard returned to the castle they were followed by a somewhat diminished crowd, which had only gotten more jubilant. But when the gate to the castle courtyard closed, the atmosphere shifted palpably. The guardsmen immediately began changing armor from their parade dress to battle kit. As Link watched them, Zelda came up behind him, gently removing his cloak.

"You'll want to keep this safe," she advised with a somewhat dark chuckle. _"Moment of truth,"_ the princess thought, as she gave the cloak to Impei. The gorget especially was a pricey piece with a symbolism demanding respect, a declaration of fealty; heavenly birds for the royal family, the Triforce for all existence, the three golden goddesses for all it's peoples. And then elemental symbols for fealty to all regions of Hyrule, as well as to peace with the monsters and with foreign powers, whenever possible. She had explained such in her speech in Kakariko Village.

That meant raising up Hyrule as a renewed civilization, one unified and harmonious instead of scattered between a loose collection of Hylian settlements paying tribute to a lackadaisical mother kingdom and dispersed between other races whose relationships with Hylians were mild at best, and often times worse. And right now, that meant earning the trust of 90 men and women as a warrior of the highest skill.

"Blunted arms!" Kalom called out. Link set aside his uncle's sword, old and worn but still deadly sharp, for an appropriate stand in.

"How does this work?" Link asked. You didn't need psychic abilities to feel the heavy tension in the air, the fighting intent expressed and understood by skilled warriors. To Zelda, Link was more comfortable than she had expected him to be. It seemed that this had more in common with Link's feelings towards his training with Uncle Alfon than they did with the fearful instincts Zelda had eased the night before.

"No other way to do it," Kalom said. "We need to trust you, you need to trust us. You need to be a guardsman, at least in spirit."

"New blood get the gauntlet," said a young woman with black hair cut short off her shoulders, as she donned her helm.

"Since the founding of the Castle Guard itself," affirmed a stout shorter man, around Link's height but thicker built.

"But... He doesn't have any armor," a third commented, a tall and thin man with short brown hair shaved down on the sides. "The metal will bang him up, no?"

"It's fine," Link stated firmly. "If it's blunt, I can take it."

"Spoken like a true veteran," Kalom said with glee. "Who wants first beating?!"

A hand went up, and out stepped a man about Link's size, perhaps just a touch taller, with hair a rusty red-brown color. "My name is Botau," he said with a grin, reaching out to shake Link's hand. "It's an honor to cross swords with you, Link."

Botau stepped back immediately, tipping his helmet onto his head and holding his sword out. As Link brought his blade into contact for an equal starting point, Zelda noticed a peculiar detail. Alfon's old sword was a well-weathered but equally well-built arming sword. But Link had selected a bastard sword; not a longsword, not a shorter sword, something smack dab in the middle. Something like the fabled Blade of Evil's Bane.

Botau lunged forward and Link sprang back, batting away probing outside thrusts and dancing off the line of quick exploratory swipes. Zelda felt Link's intent surge higher as Botau's attack progressed. Botau chained a jabbing thrust into a high and shallow angled horizontal swipe, culminating in a hard power stroke. Link evaded left, then back right again, and as the power stroke came in Link gave it a subtle brush with his sword, just enough to shove it off angle and help it along into the dirt.

Link's focus hit a peak as a held his posture high and let Botau's swing complete its arc so he could send his own sword following down onto Botao's wrist. Stepping in, Link drove his knee into the back of Botau's, in the same movement hooking the hilt of his bastard sword around Botau's neck and bracing his forearm against Botau's chest. Link locked in his footing and used the opposing forces high and low to bear his opponent down to the grass. From there it was simple for Link to just extend his sword out, pinning Botau down at the blunted point.

The assembled Hylian Guard, their well-spaced formations abandoned for a rough gaggle, whooped and laughed and cheered. Botau chuckled to himself, letting his sword lay at his side as he extended an arm to Link.

"Clean grapple," he commended as Link helped the man up. "Real nice." The other guardsmen continued to jeer, and Botau shouted in response; "Oh so you lot think you can manage better? Then step up!"

"Quickly now!" Kalom chidded his fellows. "Don't give him free breath! Link, don't you stall!"

The woman with the bobbed black hair down to her chin stepped up, hefting a lugged and long-headed spear, a Hylian hunting lance that could do serious damage to some of the biggest game throughtout Hyrule, boars, bears, wolves, moose, and tundra lions, while still being deft enough to hew and skewer man sized foes and monsters as well.

"My name is Hako," she said, extending her spear. Again, Link placed his blade in contact and the fight was on.

Hako drove forward with a flurry of face-high thrusts combined with low sweeps at Link's legs. Springing backwards, Link kept out of range, before spotting an opportunity and taking it. As he parried one high thrust, he caught the shaft in his offhand, wrenching it around to weaken Hako's grip before plunging the spearhead diagonally into the dirt beside him. Link swung his training sword, but Hako evaded, ducking low before launching two thrusting side kicks that drove Link back. Hooking one of the winged lugs of her spear with her boot, Hako tugged the weapon free, leaving her and Link at a neutral facing once more.

Now Link took the offensive, feinting left before slipping in right and low; it was a subtle step that carried Hako's guard over just a touch. But it was enough to slow her reaction, allowing Link to press into Hako's longer reach with a flurry of slashes at devious angles that left Hako flustered and late, the shaft of her spear between her and him rather than the head. She hewed with one end and bludgeoned with the other, but Link twisted her spear around, pommel striking Hako in the jaw and unhelming her with mild reluctance as he stomped straight down on the winged spear, once more burying the point in the earth. Link took a crossing step back; seeing his legs cross as a sign of vulnerability, Hako abandoned her weapon, attempting to bear link down under the weight of her armor. But in a flash that cross step uncoiled, as Link rotated in a strike that stopped inches shy of Hako's throat.

More cheers issued from the loose and wide crowd of Hylian Guardsmen, who were overjoyed by the extended exchange and skillful finish. "Th-that spin..." Hako said with a trembling laugh. "You always get me with that."

At that comment, Zelda saw Link take a darker turn, his thoughts growing painful and morbid. She tried to insert a calming feeling but it was swept away as the next opponent stepped up.

* * *

Link certainly didn't fight all of them, but he fought enough that by the time he had won to Kalom's satisfaction, they welcomed Link with cheers and shouts as one of their own, before they ran paired battle drill that even the princess took part in. The sun hung low over the river that wound around Hyrule Castle by the time they had returned inside the castle and freshened up, and the both of them were properly exhausted.

Link lay in the outer garden, closed from the world but for the waning sunlight filtering through the holes in the trellaces and the flowers that grew there, gradually blooming into the warming days of spring. Barefoot, trousers and an undershirt, the first of spring's sweetest days winding down, fresh smells in his nose and wind mussing up his hair, which was unbound and loose. Link heard the door into the castle creek open, and turned over to see Princess Zelda close the door behind her. She closed her eyes, focusing her mind until the power flowed from within her, mental energy taking physical form within the mechanisms of the door and holding them all fast with a soft blue glow. Zelda said nothing, sitting down beside Link as he turned back over, staring into the darkening sky.

They sat that way for a long while, silent company. Zelda wore a simple blue and white dress, simpler still than what she had worn when Link had first rescued her, brief about the shoulders and arms and a sensible length at her knee, made for the comfort of a beautiful day with no regalia. Eventually Link sat up, but he felt the muscles of his back seize and spasm; his body often punished him so for days of exertion such as these.

Zelda saw it immediately, and felt the hot spike of pain through their mental link. "You should have said you were injured," Zelda chided with a scowl, as she gathered his hands in hers. Again her icy blue eyes fluttered closed as she isolated the link between their minds, opening it wider until she felt as he did, and could bear no more of it.

"I-I'm sorry," Link stammered as Zelda came back to herself gasping and sobbing.

"Don't be," Zelda ordered, hugging herself. "Just... Don't make me do that to get a grasp of how you feel."

Link nodded, watching the princess till she looked him in the eyes again. Her gaze lingered lower, to the light shirt he wore. She reached, but held back in hesitation. "May I?" She asked, barely more than a whisper.

"Yeah," Link said, allowing Zelda to pull the garment up over his head and off his body.

The last light of day spilled across Link's form. Reaching curiously, Zelda carefully traced the lines of pain that broke up the surface of Link's skin, as her knight shivered at the touch. With each mark, echoing memories crossed over the boundary between their minds, as Zelda half-lived every injury Link had sustained. "How can you fight like this?" Zelda wondered aloud.

"I just do," Link said with a shrug. He didn't get her meaning, a fact which didn't escape the princess.

"You only ever used medicines?" She asked, continuing to delve the memories lingering in Link's skin, paying no need to the color in his face. "And fairy magic?" Link nodded, and Zelda sighed in dismay. "The red, green, and blue medicines are first aid. Same with fairy magic, it'll hold you together in a fight but..."

"But _what?"_ Link demanded, now thoroughly disturbed.

"The body heals itself, and often not properly," Zelda explained, not shying from the intense look Link fixed her with. She placed a palm upon his bare chest. "Leaving the patient with chronic pains and loss of function. Link, you need real medical attention; pysicians, therapists, maybe even surgeons and higher healing magic. Not just more patch jobs. The kingdom needs you to be as healthy as you can."

"I'll do it," the hero affirmed with a dark chuckle. "Its not as if I enjoy feeling like this."

"Thank you," said Zelda. Link reached for his shirt, and once it was on he found Zelda's head resting in his lap, her eyes scanning his face. For a moment he was as a startled deer, just frozen in place, but eventually he relaxed.

"Is this proper?" he asked quietly.

"No," Zelda admitted.

"Could be trouble."

"Maybe. Temporarily." She reached up slowly, giving him all the time he would need to stop her from gently stroking the line that divided his face. The memory rushed through her, the biting edge of a Stalfos Knight's sword nearly ending his life and leaving a stinging gash that she felt through her own brow. She cringed in pain as she willed the feeling to dispel, and Link cupped her cheek in his hand. Zelda held that hand close. "But I won't let them come between us."

The implication hung heavy in the air between them, but Link remembered he had things he needed knowing. "Where is Sahasralha?" He blurted. Zelda giggled at the nonsequitor.

"He's searching Hyrule," she said, a coy expression on her face.

There was that fire in his azure eyes. He wouldn't be swayed. "For what?" He insisted.

"Pages," Zelda finally admitted, to Link's surprise. "He's finding pages for you to raise into Hylian Knights." Link slapped his forehead for having not thought of it, and Zelda giggled quietly to herself. "Anything else, Sir Link?" she teased.

"The Guardsmen," Link continued, growing gradually less disturbed by the degree of insight Zelda had into his inner thoughts. "Do they...?"

"Remember?" Zelda offered. "They remember all of it Link. That's why so many have left the ranks. They remember every second."

That saddened Link immensely, and he realized that at some point he had likely killed each and every person he'd sparred with that day. Zelda seemed to catch this, sitting up and looping her arms about Link's shoulders. "Do they blame me? Zelda, do they blame me for what I did to them?

Zelda shook her head, trying not to laugh in Link's face. "No," she told him, before pressing a kiss to his cheek. "They were confused at first, but once they knew what was happening, they were rooting for you every step of the way."

Zelda stood, releasing her hold on the door's lock. "Good night, Link," she said sweetly, before closing it behind her.

Link stayed, and watched as the stars and moon chased off the sun.


End file.
